The 2026 NZES-SCBO Joint Conference is a five-day ecology and conservation-biology gathering co-hosted by the New Zealand Ecological Society and the Society for Conservation Biology Oceania at AUT in central Auckland, 30 November to 4 December 2026, on the theme 'Changing the Conversation - Ecology in a Shifting Political Landscape'.
The New Zealand Ecological Society and the Society for Conservation Biology Oceania will hold a joint conference at Auckland University of Technology from 30 November to 4 December 2026, bringing ecologists and conservation scientists from across New Zealand and the wider Oceania region to Tamaki Makaurau Auckland. Billed as the 2026 NZES-SCBO Joint Conference, it carries the theme "Changing the Conversation - Ecology in a Shifting Political Landscape."
The week opens with a Student Day on 30 November, runs its main scientific programme from 1 to 3 December, and closes with field trips on 4 December.
The conference is co-hosted by two organisations. The first is Te Aka Toro | New Zealand Ecological Society, the country's long-standing professional body for ecologists, which publishes the New Zealand Journal of Ecology and runs an annual conference. For 2026, that annual conference is being staged jointly with the second host, the Society for Conservation Biology Oceania, the Oceania regional section of the global Society for Conservation Biology. SCBO has a track record of large joint meetings, having previously co-hosted events such as the ESA-SCBO conference in Wollongong in 2022 and the Oceania Congress for Conservation Biology.
Auckland University of Technology hosts the event on its city campus, and the conference is managed by Conferences & Events Ltd of Wellington. Published deadlines include symposia submissions closing on 10 April 2026, abstracts on 12 August, and early-bird registration ending on 30 September.
The programme is aimed at scientists, early-career researchers, students, and practitioners working in ecology and conservation, along with the policy makers whose decisions shape that work. The theme frames the gathering around how researchers and conservationists can respond to and influence the narratives driving environmental change, making it as much about science communication and policy as about field ecology.
AUT's city campus sits in central Auckland's CBD, close to Aotea Square and the civic heart of the city. The location places delegates within walking distance of a large concentration of CBD hotels and accommodation, and close to Auckland's public transport network, including rail and bus links through the central city. Auckland Airport lies roughly 20 kilometres south of the CBD, connected by motorway and the Airport-to-city corridor. A late-spring, early-summer timeframe at the end of November and start of December places the event outside the peak summer holiday period.
As an association conference, this event is a repeat, calendar-fixed gathering of a national professional society, run in partnership with a regional international body, which lifts its reach beyond New Zealand into the wider Oceania conservation community. Hosting it on a university campus in the Auckland CBD reflects the city's role as New Zealand's principal gateway for association and academic meetings, and the multi-day structure of student day, scientific sessions, and field trips is typical of the sustained, high-value academic programmes that anchor the business-events calendar.
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